Those Blue Eyes
by x.G.E.Lupin.x
Summary: It was the last thing he saw before he closed his eyes to rest from this life: those blue eyes.


**PROLOGUE**

"Excuse me!" The little voice was clearly a child's, but it had a brisk manner to it. "_Excuse me_!"

The surrounding crowd looked down, slightly shocked, to see who was ordering them to move, and parted slowly to let the eleven year-old girl through, a couple blinking in disbelief to find the small figure from which the loud, clear voice had come.

"Thank you." She said politely, her voice taking on the saccharine innocence of a young girl for a moment as she walked through the path made for her, smiling sweetly to the people who had moved for her to acknowledge her thanks.

"There you are, Poppy!" The relief in the voice could not be mistaken for any other than that of a mother's as her young daughter walked over to her. "Where on earth did you wander off to?"

"I saw a Healer, Mam. I think it was Daddy!"

Poppy watched her mother's face, awaiting the happy expression and the cry of joy which would tell her that her father had come back to them, that it must be him; that it couldn't be anyone else.

But it didn't come.

"Mam? Mam, why aren't you happy? It must be Daddy, mustn't it? I mean, someone else can't look that much like him, can they? Have you actually seen him? Mam?" Poppy gently shook her mother's arm, trying to gain a response.

Her mother slowly turned her head to look down at her daughter, and her eyes sparkled with unshed tears. "Poppy... How many times must I tell you?" She whispered, her voice crackling with the effort of not crying. "Your father isn't coming back."

"But... He's come to see me off to Hogwarts." Poppy said, her voice faltering. "Hasn't he? I mean... Why else would he be here?"

"It isn't him, Poppy." The abrupt harshness in the tone made Poppy wince, but it was the only way the message could be gotten across.

"Yes, Mam." The young girl looked down, her blue eyes watching an ant make its way across the stone ground.

And then warm, familiar warms were all of a sudden around Poppy and she rested her head against her mother's chest, both of the girls' unsaid emotions put into the hug.

"Love you, Mam..." Poppy mumbled.

"I love you, too, Poppy... Now, go on. Or you'll miss your train." Her mother pulled back, smoothing the light blonde hair on her child's head with one hand and using the pad of her thumb on the other to brush away the single tear on Poppy's cheek.

Poppy picked up her trunk with a slight struggle and stood on tiptoes to kiss her mother's cheek. "See you at Christmas, Mam."

"See you at Christmas." Her mother nodded. "Have fun, be good, and pay attention in class."

"I will." Poppy hugged her mother with one arm before running off to the train as the whistle blew.

* * *

Poppy, the last one to find a seat as she had expected, hauled her trunk down the isle of the train, hoping to find an empty compartment, but knowing that it was useless.

She turned into the left carriage at the very end of the train, not caring who was in there, and wanting only to put her trunk down.

A group of people who she guessed were also first years looked up, falling silent at being interrupted.

"Sorry," Poppy apologised. "Everywhere else is completely full."

The first years watched her for a moment, their eyes slightly narrowed as Poppy put her trunk away, before one of them moved over so that there was room on the chair for her to sit down.

"Thank you." She said, sitting back against the bench.

The first year nodded and looked at her, somewhat curiously.

Two others on the opposite side of the carriage were whispering to each other, nodding quickly once in a while.

"Please excuse them."

"I'm sorry?" Poppy looked up from the book she had just gotten out of her bag and was about to open.

"I said please excuse them."

"Oh, there's no need to excuse anyone. I just walked in here."

"Still, it's rude to whisper," The boy's eyes darted to the whispering pair, and they stopped immediately. "Just as it's rude to stare."

The boy who had moved over on the chair so that Poppy could sit down averted her eyes from Poppy quickly and looked down.

"I don't mind." Poppy shrugged. "You can stare and whisper if you want to."

"What's your name?"

"Sorry?" Poppy frowned slightly, confused at the sudden change of subject and unsure if she had missed something.

"Your name. What is it?" The boy asked.

"Poppy Pomfrey. What's yours?"

"Castor Black." He outstretched a hand for her to shake, which she did with a surprisingly firm grip.

He looked ordinary enough, she thought- dark hair, grey eyes, a boyish face- but there was something odd about him, something she couldn't quite lay a finger on.

"Nice to meet you." She nodded.

"And you. This is Ciel, my sister." He gestured to his left. "And these are my second cousins, Caelum and Corvus. Next to you is Altair. And the other one is Estelle."

Each of the others nodded once in turn as Castor said their names.

"Are you all Blacks?" Poppy asked, and then quickly added: "I don't mean to be nosey."

"Altair is a Malfoy- he's half-brother to Abraxas Malfoy, who has already left Hogwarts. Estelle is a Rosier."

Poppy nodded, not entirely sure on who the other families were. She had heard of the Blacks- they were a rich Pureblood family, and she was quite sure that the Malfoys and Rosiers probably were, too, if this group already knew each other.

"Do you know what house you want to be in?" The one who Castor had introduced as Caelum asked, looking at Poppy and breaking her thoughts.

"I haven't really thought about it." She answered honestly.

"I reckon you'd make a good Slytherin, looking at you." Estelle said from beside her.

"Neither of my parents were Slytherins."

"That doesn't mean you can't be."

Poppy shrugged dismissively and stood. "Anyway, I need to change into my robes. We're almost there."

* * *

Poppy sat in her new common room, admiring the cheerful black and yellow decor with a smile. Yellow was such a nice colour. It reminded her of sunshine, and sunflowers, and of her father's study which was yellow for the exact reason that it always put him in a good mood.

"Nice, isn't it?"

Poppy looked up, and a girl with dark brown hair and eyes to match smiled at her. "The colour yellow." She explained her previous sentence. "It's lovely, don't you think?"

Poppy nodded. "It's always been my favourite."

The girl nodded and smiled again. "My name's Clara."

"I'm Poppy."

"That's a pretty name."

"Thank you. I like Clara, too."

Clara chuckled. "It's funny, don't you think? How when people are given a compliment they feel the need to return the favour?"

"I guess so. I've never really thought about it."

And then there was a short, but awkward silence.

"You wanted to be in Slytherin, didn't you?" Clara said suddenly.

"Me? No, of course not." Poppy shook her head.

"Then why did you keep looking at the Slytherin table during the Sorting Ceremony and the Feast?"

"Just curious."

"You're not telling the truth, are you?"

"Why should I?"

"Because lying is bad."

Poppy frowned and shook her head. This girl was strange, and she didn't like it.

"I should rest. Goodnight, Clara."

"Goodnight, Poppy. You should consider telling the truth to someone someday."

* * *

"Hello."

"Good evening."

"We haven't spoken since the train journey here, have we?"

"I didn't expect us to talk after it at all, to be honest."

"Why not?"

"I didn't think Slytherins mixed with other houses."

"That's stereotypical of you."

"It's true, is it not?"

Castor looked at Poppy. "Normally, yes."

"Normally?"

"Well, we're both neutral, aren't we?"

"Neutral? What do you mean?" Poppy leant back against the tree she was sitting under, closing her book and putting it down on the grass beside her.

"Neutral to the War."

"There's a War?"

"How could you not notice?"

Poppy shrugged. "We're only eleven, Castor. We don't have to notice. It's our parents' war if there is one, not ours."

"It will be ours one day."

"It will be over by then."

"Do you think so?"

"Yes."

"I don't."

"Remind me why you're here?"

"I wanted to talk to you."

"What about?"

"I don't know."

"How could you not know?"

"I don't know that, either."

Poppy raised her eyebrows, causing Castor to roll his eyes.

"I wanted us to be friends." He admitted after a moment.

"You did?"

"I do."

"Then don't use the past tense."

"What's your problem?"

"At the moment, my problem is the lack of clearness in your grammar."

"Oh, shut up. Do you want to be friends or not?"

She shrugged. "Why not?"

Castor grinned.

"But only," Poppy began, and Castor's grin faltered slightly. "If you help me with my Charms essay." She grinned.

Castor's grin returned, bigger than before. "When do we start it?"

* * *

**A.N. This is the first time I've written a Fanfiction without detailed information on the character I'm using, so if I make any mistakes that you notice, please feel free to let me know. :) This chapter was just a quick introduction to the characters that I'll be using for the actual story, and how they met, so that's why it's so short. I'll upload the first proper chapter as soon as I finish writing it, so hopefully quite soon.**

**Many thanks, **

**Grace :) x**


End file.
